The invention relates to a magazine for keeping a number of contact lenses and of the kind where the contact lenses are kept in each their fluid-filled chamber, each chamber having a supporting wall with a concave face fitting the convex side of the contact lens, the supporting walls are placed in a row after each other along the axis of the concave faces, each supporting wall detachably separating two consecutive chambers, and each chamber made with a convex face a distance above the concave face.
There are different packages for contact lenses. In a common kind, a chamber for a contact lens is made in a thin sheet of plastic. The chamber is furthermore filled with a saline solution and sealed by means of a sealing foil of coated aluminium. When the contact lens is to be used, the sealing foil is pulled off the chamber sheet, and the contact lens is poured out into the hand together with the saline solution, the lens is turned over and placed on the tip of a finger which is then used for applying the contact lens in an eye.
In some cases, a row of chamber sheets are joined transversely by means of a piece of sealing foil spanning the entire row. When the sealing foil is pulled off one chamber sheet, this sheet can be separated from the rest in the row and used as mentioned above.
PCT Publication No. WO 99/21519, which is expressly incorporated herein by reference, relates to another package for a contact lens. As shown therein, the contact lens and the saline solution are in a chamber which is defined by a cup and a fingerstall which are detachably connected to each other. On the end of the fingerstall is a concave hollow fitting the convex side of the contact lens.
When a contact lens is to be applied in an eye, the package is first faced in such a way that the contact lens will lie in the concave hollow of the fingerstall. Then the cup is removed. This causes the saline solution runs out. The contact lens, which due to the moisture present is adhering in the concave hollow of the fingerstall with a modest adhesive force, is now applied in the eye with a finger stuck into the fingerstall. The package is then discarded. This package is thus transformed upon removal of the cup into an effective applicator for applying a contact lens in an eye cleanly and sterilely.
The known package is, however, comprised of two parts and is therefore rather expensive to manufacture. The package considerably increases the expenses which a person using contact lenses frequently has to pay.
Furthermore, each package only contains one single contact lens. For practical reasons, the packages have to be distributed in joint packages with several one-piece packages. The user""s expenses to packaging are thereby further increased.
UK Patent Application No. GB 2328924 relates to a magazine that is detachably made up of a number of containers each containing a contact lens. The chambers formed by these containers are, however, not arranged to keep the contact lenses dimensionally stably in place during storage. The magazine and each of its containers are therefore not suited as applicator for applying a contact lens in a user""s eye. For the inevitable handling of the magazine will cause the contact lenses to become crimped, and they will have to be straightened and applied with a finger.
The invention relates to a magazine for holding a plurality of contact lenses that includes a plurality of fluid-filled chambers with each chamber having a supporting wall with a concave face corresponding to the convex side of each contact lens, wherein the supporting walls are placed in a row after each other along an axis of the concave faces, each supporting wall detachably. separates two consecutive chambers, and each chamber has a convex face a sufficient small distance above the concave face to keep the contact lens in the chamber dimensionally stably in place between the two faces, and a skirt on each supporting wall extending long the axis in the opposite direction of the concave face of the supporting wall, wherein each skirt is detachably connected to at least the first supporting wall in this direction and/or to the skirt of this wall.
The convex face of the supporting wall has a shape that is substantially complementary to the concave face of the contact lens and is disposed on the side of the supporting wall that faces opposite the concave face. The concave face passes into a curvature along the periphery. Each chamber has two supporting walls and at least part of a skirt. The skirts may be detachably pressed or screwed together. The magazine may be placed axially displaceably in a supporting tube. The partition isolating a pocket from the rest of the chamber is placed in each chamber and at least one through hole is disposed in the wall around this pocket that is closed when the chamber is detachably closed and that is opened when the chamber is opened.
The invention also relates to a package for keeping a contact lens that includes a supporting wall with a concave face fitting the convex side of the lens, a skirt made on the supporting wall and extending along an axis in the opposite direction of the concave face, and a cap that detachably joins the skirt. A number of packages may be assembled into a magazine with the cap of each package pressed into the skirt of an adjacent package.
The invention also relates to a method for taking a contact lens out of a magazine which is displaceably placed in a supporting tube and includes a number of supporting walls with skirts detachably pressed together in a row, and together defined a number of chambers. The method includes pushing on the top supporting wall in the row so that the skirt of the lowest supporting wall will be extending at least partly out of the bottom opening of the tube and removing the lowest supporting wall with the contact lens in the overlying chamber from the supporting tube so that the contact lens, which due to the moisture present is adhered to the supporting wall, is applied to the eye, and so that the supporting wall is then placed at the top in the supporting tube.
The invention further relates to a method for applying a contact lens in a package to an eye that includes orienting the package row with the caps pointing relatively upwards, removing the top cap to provide an uncovered chamber, guiding the package row up towards the eye so that the contact lens in the uncovered chamber is applied, and pressing the cap in place on the supporting wall which is then placed at the bottom in the package row with the cap pressed into the skirt of the overlying supporting wall.